- Additional Authors
- Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967
- Description
- 1 score (19 pages); 26 cm.
- Summary
- "These words of Langston Hughes have proven their immortality this year in American history, and not in the way one would hope. The 1951 poem, Harlem, still captures the essence of disillusionment in a deceptively simple series of vivid questions. Dreams, a lesser-known poem, charges the reader to "hold fast to dreams" while making plain the misery of a life without them. One poem summarizes the pain of broken promises and the other encourages faith that things will get better because the alternative is absolute despair. Both contain essential truths made evident in this turbulent 2016. When asked to write a piece in response to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, the possibility of dialogue between these succinct literary gems was an instant inspiration to me. Today's rampant cynicism casts Hughes' words in a tired light - these sentiments seem to be the stuff of childhood and naiveté - but my hope is that all who experience this piece will put aside our jaded lenses of fear and choose to be vulnerable and continue to dream."--
- Series Statement
- Atlanta Master Chorale choral series
- Alternative Title
- Recitative and aria
- Subjects
- Genre/Form
- Art music
- Musical settings
- Scores
- Songs.
- Scores.
- Musical settings.
- Art music.
- Partitions (Musique)
- Mises en musique.
- Musique savante.
- Note
- For mixed chorus (SATB, with divisi) and piano.
- Duration: 4 min., 10 sec.
- Program notes in English.
- Composed in 2016.
- Title from cover.
- Language (note)
- LCCN
- OCLC
- 1037736765
- Author
Thompson, Joel, 1988- composer.
- Title
Hold fast to dreams / words by Langston Hughes ; music by Joel Thompson.
- Playing Time
000410
- Type of Content
notated music
- Type of Medium
unmediated
- Type of Carrier
volume
- Series
Atlanta Master Chorale choral series
- Language
English words.
Staff notation.
- Added Author
Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967, author.